[FirstTomato]

Societies which cling to caste systems of any sort are NOT as prosperous as those who have eliminated caste systems

What about India? An extremely prosperous nation, yet one of the most discrimatory on Earth, with incredible social and gender problems.

[Lorianne]

Well I've been to India and I would not describe them as "prosperous" on par with the USA. If you want to classify them as "prosperous" that's fine but prosperous relative to who?. I've already made a point of saying "prosperous" is relative. Relative to the USA and other Western countries, I don't consider India as prosperous. Large percentages of their population live in abject poverty at a level unimaginable to Western citizens. The poorest homeless person in the USA lives much better than vast swaths of their population.

As India slowly (and I mean at a glacial pace) moves away from caste systems, the more prosperous the country becomes in terms of more people at a standard of living that I would call "prosperous".